SME Bank investigation goes international

TILENI MONGUDHI
March 25, 2024
Enock Kamushinda
Enock Kamushinda

POLICE and the prosecutor-general’s office have already been making progress in their pursuit of criminal charges against culprits who looted the now defunct SME Bank of N$247 million while leaving it N$1 billion in debt.

The Issue has reliably learned that investigations have now spilled over into South Africa and Zimbabwe.

This comes after the Supreme Court’s criticism of why the failed bank’s former deputy chairperson, Enock Kamushinda, has not been arrested or why no warrant for his arrest has been issued. Kamushinda appears to be the linchpin in a well-organised plan to steal money from needy Namibians who looked to the SME Bank as a solution for their small business financing needs. 

Police commissioner Jack Nangolo told The Issue that investigations are ongoing and that there have been a number of instructions from the prosecutor-general that the police are currently implementing. “The majority of these instructions involve foreign jurisdictions, thus bringing into play elements of mutual legal assistance,” he said. 

Nangolo said it was not true that police are not taking the case seriously and denied allegations that only one investigator was tasked with the case. He said three investigators have been assigned to the case since its transfer from the commercial crimes division to the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Financing of Terrorism division. 

Prosecutor-general Martha Imalwa said that she last saw the docket towards the end of last year and sent it back to the police with instructions. She said the docket has been to her office more than once as police seek her guidance. 

While Anti-Corruption Commission director general Paulus Noa said that money laundering was not under the ACC’s jurisdiction at the time the case was registered, the graft buster, therefore, did not participate in investigations related to the failure of the bank. 

The Supreme Court was adjudicating a case between the SME Bank’s minority shareholders, Kamushinda’s World Eagle, the Metropolitan Bank of Zimbabwe, and the SME Bank’s liquidators. 

Two weeks ago, the highest court in the country concluded that the numerous payments to which former SME Bank deputy chairperson and minority shareholder, Zimbabwean businessman Kamushinda, was party to and appear to constitute serious crimes, including theft and contraventions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca).

Yet, no warrant for Kamushinda’s arrest has been issued. Kamushinda left Namibia during February 2017 shortly before the Bank of Namibia took over the running of the bank and has never returned to Namibia since, according to the Supreme Court judgement. 

“The prima facie criminal conduct on the rampant scale set out in the counter-application is of massive proportions, involving the theft of more than N$247 million from a registered bank to the detriment of its several deposit holders and creditors. Economic crime of this scale within the context of the Namibian economy justifies an appropriately serious response,” read the Supreme Court judgement which also ordered that the registrar of the High Court furnish the court documents outlining the looting to the prosecutor-general. 

This article was produced in partnership with Integrity Namibia.

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